About

William D. Lopez, PhD, MPH, is an Associate Chair and Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Health Behavior & Health Equity at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. His work and advocacy focus on the health impacts of law enforcement activities, including surveillance, arrest, incarceration, and deportation, particularly in communities of color. He is the author of the award-winning book, Raiding the Heartland: An American Story of Deportation and Resistance, and the follow-up book, Separated: Family and Community in the Aftermath of an Immigration Raid. Dr. Lopez contributes to public discussions on immigration, deportation, and Latino issues and is available for media comment. He teaches a variety of public health classes, including the Social Determinants of Health, Health Program Planning, and Health Communication, both in residential and online formats. His research interests include immigration enforcement and health, law enforcement violence, health inequities, and public health storytelling, with active collaborations with community organizations such as the Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights and Synod Community Services.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Nursing
• Law
• Medicine
• Psychiatry
• Environmental health
• Psychology
• Social psychology
• Clinical psychology
• Marketing
• Business
• Criminology
• Public relations

Selected publications

• A logic model for alternative response programs to guide public health research and practice

  Social Science & Medicine · 2026-04-15

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Access to Health Care Services among Young People Exchanging Sex in Detroit

  UNC Libraries · 2025-09-09

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Working Toward Structural Change: Visions and Tension Points for a City-Wide Unarmed Response Program to Enhance Health Equity

  Health Promotion Practice · 2025-03-26

  article

  Amid growing evidence and high-profile incidents highlighting the dangers of current police practices, many are questioning the role of armed police in their communities. Police violence is a public health issue and unarmed nonpolice response programs represent one potential solution for addressing this issue. In this article, we describe local visions and key tension points for an unarmed public safety program to reduce police violence and improve the health and well-being of its residents. We report on interviews ( n = 15) conducted with local leaders, activists, and social service providers in a small-sized Midwestern city that had allocated funding to pilot an unarmed response program. To supplement the interviews, we also systematically followed local news stories and city council meetings and participated as members of a coalition working toward implementing an unarmed response program. Our analysis focused on participants’ visions and expectations for an unarmed safety program and identified several key concerns related to program logistics, including program reach, response time, funding, impact, and staffing. We found that key concerns raised by activists and leaders—including the scope of the program, the satisfaction the community has with the program, how it will be evaluated, and how community members will be involved—are similar to concerns raised in a typical health promotion program planning process. The visions and tensions detailed in this article can inform organizing efforts in other municipalities and suggest a role for public health practitioners in developing and implementing these programs.

  PublisherDOI

• Challenges to Addressing Mental Health Repercussions of Large-Scale Immigration Worksite Raids in the Rural United States

  UNC Libraries · 2025-03-25

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Immigration worksite raids-in which dozens to hundreds of individuals are detained-often target food processing plants or other warehouse-based operations, primary sources of employment for immigrants in rural communities. Drawing on interviews with 77 adults who provided support following six worksite raids, we describe three challenges to identifying resultant mental health impacts: 1) amid poverty and family disappearance, mental health is not the priority; 2) untrained practitioners misidentify signs of declining mental health; and 3) mental health care is linguistically limited, expensive, and inaccessible to working families. We end by discussing how practitioners and advocates can address these challenges.

  PublisherDOI

• Large-scale immigration worksite raids: community disaster, community response

  Journal of Community Practice · 2024-01-02 · 5 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Immigration enforcement – or the surveillance, detention, and deportation of noncitizens – detrimentally impacts health, with spillover effects on the families of those targeted. However, less is known about how immigration enforcement impacts communities, regardless of the immigration statuses of members. Immigration worksite raids can involve hundreds of agents, helicopters, and buses descending unannounced upon rural towns with small Latino populations and removing dozens of members in a day. This egregious enforcement tactic presents the opportunity to better understand how communities organize to mitigate the harm of these events. We conducted semistructured interviews in Spanish and English in six communities that experienced the largest worksite raids in 2018. Participants were 77 adults who provided material, emotional, or professional support following raids. We used qualitative analysis methods to code all interviews and develop a timeline characterizing raid impact and response. The day of the raid is characterized by chaos, confusion, and fear, which resulted in hiding out in churches and schools and supporting the children of those who disappeared. The days and weeks that followed were characterized by hunger, resulting in multiple strategies aimed at keeping the community fed, along with efforts to re-integrate children into schools. Months after, communities began to organize rideshares and finally address health concerns. We end with recommendations to mitigate the community-wide damage of worksite raids while advocating against their use.

  PublisherDOI

• A Public Health of Accompaniment

  University of Arizona Press eBooks · 2024-07-09 · 1 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Police Violence: Reducing the Harms of Policing Through Public Health–Informed Alternative Response Programs

  American Journal of Public Health · 2023-01-01 · 26 citations

  articleOpen access

  Police violence is a public health issue in need of public health solutions. Reducing police contact through public health–informed alternative response programs separate from law enforcement agencies is one strategy to reduce police perpetration of physical, emotional, and sexual violence. Such programs may improve health outcomes, especially for communities that are disproportionately harmed by the police, such as Black, Latino/a, Native American, and transgender communities; nonbinary residents; people who are drug users, sex workers, or houseless; and people who experience mental health challenges. The use of alternative response teams is increasing across the United States. This article provides a public health rationale and framework for developing and implementing alternative response programs informed by public health principles of care, equity, and prevention. We conclude with recommendations for public health researchers and practitioners to guide inquiries into policing as a public health problem and expand the use of public health–informed alternative response programs. (Am J Public Health. 2023;113(S1):S37–S42. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2022.307107 )

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Immigration and Immigrant Policies, Health, and Health Equity in the United States

  Milbank Quarterly · 2023-04-01 · 34 citations

  articleOpen access

  Policy Points There is growing attention to the role of immigration and immigrant policies in shaping the health and well-being of immigrants of color. The early 21st century in the United States has seen several important achievements in inclusionary policies, practices, and ideologies toward immigrants, largely at subnational levels (e.g., states, counties, cities/towns). National policies or practices that are inclusionary toward immigrants are often at the discretion of the political parties in power. Early in the 21st century, the United States has implemented several exclusionary immigration and immigrant policies, contributing to record deportations and detentions and worsening inequities in the social drivers of health.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Immigration Worksite Raids Are Violent, Militarized, and Rooted in Racial Discrimination—and Politicians Love Them for It

  Practicing Anthropology · 2022-01-01 · 6 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation William D. Lopez; IMMIGRATION WORKSITE RAIDS ARE VIOLENT, MILITARIZED, AND ROOTED IN RACIAL DISCRIMINATION—AND POLITICIANS LOVE THEM FOR IT. Practicing Anthropology 1 January 2022; 44 (1): 31–35. doi: https://doi.org/10.17730/0888-4552.44.1.31 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest Search

  PublisherDOI

• Barriers to health care services among US-based undocumented Latinx immigrants within the sociopolitical climate under the Trump administration: A comparative analysis between client experiences and provider perceptions

  SSM - Qualitative Research in Health · 2022-02-10 · 9 citations

  articleOpen access

  As President Biden's administration works towards a ‘fair and humane’ immigration overhaul, it becomes critical to examine the implications of immigration policies/laws under the Trump administration on the well-being of undocumented residents to inform equitable reformations. We investigate challenges faced by undocumented Latinx immigrants in accessing health care services in the sociopolitical climate under the Trump administration. This study, which follows a similar study among frontline service providers, presents key findings from 23 in-depth interviews with Latinx individuals. Understanding their experiences is necessary to advance access to health-promoting services and uphold the human right to health. Our study participants' narratives document multiple barriers to health care services, many notably exacerbated by increasingly restrictive immigration policies/laws and heightened punitive interior enforcement practices under the Trump administration. As the nation awaits equitable immigration reform, health care organizations should immediately incorporate, amplify, or alter programs/practices to facilitate access among their undocumented clients. Focused organizational changes have the potential to reduce unmet health needs, minimize financial burdens for families, and curtail potential public health threats, the latter a particularly imperative goal within the current COVID-19 pandemic. We also distill conclusions drawn from our interviews with clients and their convergence with and divergence from conclusions drawn from our related research with providers. While providers recognize the negative impact of sociopolitical factors on their clients' access to health care services, client experiences illuminate potential gaps in their understanding. Bridging understanding between providers and clients can improve access, utilization, and retention in health care services.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Paul J. Fleming

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  32 shared

• Nicole L. Novak

  University of Iowa

  27 shared

• Sara Konrath

  17 shared

• Alana M. W. LeBrón

  University of California, Irvine

  16 shared

• Nolan Kline

  Florida College

  14 shared

• Monika Doshi

  14 shared

• Hannah Mesa

  Michigan Department of Health and Human Services

  13 shared

• Ramiro Martínez

  12 shared